Updated June 26, 2020 – self-publishing tips for absolute beginners

All the links now work, and a few tips have been taken out. They relate to Lulu specific info. that I can no longer check. Apologies for that but better no info. than out-of-date info.

1. Print-On-Demand [POD for short] is new tech that allows books to be printed one at a time instead of in the hundreds.
2. Print-On-Demand [POD] means authors don’t have to BUY 100’s of their own print books.
3. The 3 biggest Print-On-Demand printers are Lulu, IngramSpark, and Amazon KDP.
4. Lulu & IngramSpark have print facilities in Australia. Both are more expensive than KDP but Aussie authors save a lot in postage [and time].
5. Aussie authors wanting to print with IngramSpark must have an ABN and pay a $53 setup fee for each book [$49USD]. IngramSpark periodically has ‘free setup’ promotions.
6. Aussie authors wanting to get an ABN should read this how-to first: https://acflory.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/how-to-apply-for-an-abn-the-basics/
7. Print-On-Demand works with standard trim sizes only. For a table of trim sizes see : https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834180
8. Trim size = physical size of book after pages glued inside cover & trimmed.
9. Page size templates for all trim sizes can be found on the KDP website: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834230
10. Convert Word A4 pages to trim size pages via the Word Page Setup dialog box.
11. ISBN = 13 digit no. that identifies your book worldwide. Buy your own ISBN or accept the free one offered by KDP.
12. The downside of a free ISBN is that it can only be used with the company that issued it.
13. Aussie authors can buy ISBNs from Thorpe-Bowker: https://www.myidentifiers.com.au/
14. As a rule of thumb, print, ebook & audiobooks all need their own ISBN.
15. Books printed via KDP are listed on Amazon automatically.
16. To publish Kindle ebooks go to: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
17. Amazon supplies ebooks with ASIN identifiers so ISBN not strictly necessary.
18. If you want to ‘go wide’ & sell with other retailers as well as Amazon, your own ISBN is a must.
19. Most POD printers prefer PDF files but will accept Word files.
20. Before converting from Word to PDF, ensure all Word fonts are embedded in the document. See:  https://acflory.wordpress.com/2020/02/10/exporting-your-document-to-pdf/
21. File/Export completed Word doc. to PDF [see 20 above]. Then upload that PDF to the POD printer of your choice.
22. With KDP print, royalty = List Price – Print costs.
23. With KDP, Print costs= Sales Channel % + Fixed Charges + Per Page Charge.
24. With KDP, Standard sales channel % = 40% of List Price, Expanded sales channel % = 60%.
25. Spine of [paperback] cover = trim size & no. of pages.
26. KDP cover template from:  https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/cover-templates  Select trim size from drop down list, enter page count & paper colour, then download template.
27. IngramSpark cover template from: https://myaccount.ingramspark.com/Portal/Tools/CoverTemplateGenerator
28. Barcodes for KDP – included at no cost.
29. Barcodes for IngramSpark – included at no cost.
30. When converting covers to PDF for KDP paperback, “Press Quality” and “PDF/X-1a” both work.
31. Total page no. of book = pages AFTER conversion to chosen trim size [not A4 Word pages].
32. Amazon deducts 30% withholding tax from each sale. Aussies can claim exemption to reduce tax to 5%.
33. Withholding tax exemption: US TIN = Australian Tax File No.
34. Aussie authors must deposit 1 copy of each published book with the National Library of Australia: https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit
35. Aussie authors must also deposit 1 copy of each published book with their state library: https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit/australia-wide
36. Aussie authors – for Legal Deposit FAQ see:https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit-faq

How to make Word 16 embed all your fonts

Before I begin, if you don’t want to self-publish your own paperback, or if you don’t use a PDF file to do it, look away now.

Right, this is the task:

1. convert your manuscript from a Word 16 [13 and possibly 10] document to a PDF file, in order to print with
2. Lulu.com, CreateSpace.com or KDP [possible IngramSpark as well]

The problem:

1. after converting to PDF, you find that there are fonts in your PDF that are not ’embedded’,
2. yet after scouring your original Word file, you can find no trace of these non-embedded fonts.

How can you fix something that doesn’t seem to be there?

Before launching into the how-to, let me go back and explain the problem in a little more detail. It all starts with the Word fonts. While Word documents look great on screen and print without problems, sharing them with others can be tricky as they may not have the same fonts on their version of Word.

This is where PDFs come in. They take a picture of your Word file so that it can be shared by just about anyone. However…for PDFs to work properly, all those pesky Word fonts have to be embedded in the PDF. With me so far?

Okay, so how do you know whether the fonts have been embedded in your PDF file or not?

Easy. Download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader. Install it onto your computer and use it to open the PDF file of your manuscript. Once the manuscript is open:

1. click File, and
2. select Properties from the menu

With the Properties dialog box open, select the Font tab:

On the Font tab you will find a list of all the fonts used in your manuscript. Next to each one you should see ‘(Embedded Subset)’. I’ve underlined it in green above. If you see a font name without ‘Embedded Subset’ next to it [circled in red above], that means the font is loose and may be replaced with some other font when the reader opens the document [or tries to read your print book].

Now, you could take a chance and shrug the problem off, but printers tend to take a dim view of non-embedded fonts. CreateSpace tags them as errors but allows you to continue anyway. I suspect Lulu will be a bit less forgiving, that’s why I went looking for a solution.

Unfortunately, the solutions offered on the lulu.com website are not particularly useful unless you have an app called Adobe Distiller which is needed to make another app, called Lulu Job Options, work. Guess who doesn’t have Adobe Distiller?

My first brilliant idea was to go back into my Word file and get rid of the unembedded font[s]. Fail. I tried doing an Advanced search for the TimesNewRomanPSMT font, but the search came back with no returns. Given that I never choose TimesNewRoman, I can only think that it’s lurking somewhere in one of Words many defaults.

So then I spent about three, increasingly frustrated hours online, trying to hit on the right combination of search words to find an answer to my problem. I won’t bore you with the failures because the answer, when I finally found it, was right there in Word’s damn defaults. You’ll find it in the File/Options dialog box:

1. With your Word manuscript document open, click the File Tab.
2. From the File navigation pane, select ‘Options’:

‘Options’ is where the default options that govern much of the behind-the-scenes stuff lives in Word.

Once you click ‘Options’, the Word Options dialog box opens up. This is the motherlode:

Click Save on the navigation pane as shown [circled in red].

This will open up the Save options, one of which includes the option to ‘Embed fonts in the file’ [circled in red].

Click Embed fonts in the file.

Last but by no means least, uncheck both ‘Embed only the characters used in the document’ and ‘Do not embed common system fonts’. TimesNewRomanPSMT is one of those ‘common system fonts’. -rolls eyes and pulls hair-

Finally, click OK, save your Word file and then convert it to a new PDF file, again.

This time, when you open the new PDF with Acrobat Reader and check its properties, you should see something like this:

And there it is [circled in red], the TimesNewRomanPSMT font…embedded at last!

Happy publishing,

Meeks

 

 

 

 

31 Self-publishing Tips 4 Absolute Beginners

1. Print-On-Demand is new tech that allows books to be printed one at a time instead of in hundreds.
2. Print-On-Demand means authors don’t have to buy 100’s of their own print books.
3. 3 biggest Print-On-Demand printers are CreateSpace [Amazon], Lulu and IngramSpark. Amazon KDP is now offering print as well.
4. Lulu & IngramSpark have print facilities in Australia. Both are more expensive than CreateSpace or KDP but you save a lot in postage [and time].
5. Aussie authors wanting to print with IngramSpark must have an ABN and pay a $53 setup fee for each book.
6. Aussie authors wanting to get an ABN should read this how to first: https://acflory.wordpress.com/2018/04/22/how-to-apply-for-an-abn-the-basics/
7. Print-On-Demand works with standard trim sizes only. For table of trim sizes see : https://www.createspace.com/Special/Pop/book_trimsizes-pagecount.html
8. Trim size = physical size of book after pages glued inside cover & trimmed.
9. Page size templates for all trim sizes can be found on CreateSpace forums: https://forums.createspace.com/en/community/docs/DOC-1323
10. Convert Word A4 pages to trim size pages via the Word Page Setup dialog box.
11. ISBN = 13 digit no. that identifies your book worldwide.
12. Buy your own ISBN or accept the free one offered by CreateSpace and KDP.
13. Aussie authors can buy ISBNs from Thorpe-Bowker: https://www.myidentifiers.com.au/
14. As a rule of thumb, print, ebook & audiobooks all need their own ISBN.
15. Books printed via CreateSpace are listed on Amazon automatically.
16. To publish Kindle ebooks go to: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/
17. Amazon supplies ebooks with ASIN identifiers so ISBN not strictly necessary.
18. If you want to ‘go wide’ & sell with other retailers as well as Amazon, your own ISBN is a must.
19. Most POD printers prefer PDF files but will accept Word files.
20. Before converting from Word to PDF, ensure all Word fonts are embedded in the document. See:  https://acflory.wordpress.com/2018/05/19/how-to-make-word-16-embed-all-your-fonts/
21. File/Export completed Word doc. to PDF. Then upload that PDF to the POD printer of your choice. 
22. With CreateSpace, royalty = List Price – Print costs.
23. With CreateSpace, Print costs= Sales Channel % + Fixed Charges + Per Page Charge.
24. With CreateSpace, Standard sales channel % = 40% of List Price, Expanded sales channel % = 60%. 
25. Spine of cover = trim size & no. of pages. See: https://www.createspace.com/Help/Book/Artwork.do 
26. Total page no. of book = pages AFTER conversion to chosen trim size [not A4 Word pages].
27. Amazon deducts 30% withholding tax from each sale. Aussies can claim exemption to reduce tax to 5%.
28. Withholding tax exemption: US TIN = Australian Tax File No.
29. Aussie authors must deposit 1 copy of each published book with the National Library of Australia: https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit
    
30. Aussie authors must also deposit 1 copy of each published book with their state library: https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit/australia-wide
31. Aussie authors – for Legal Deposit FAQ see:https://www.nla.gov.au/legal-deposit-faq

 

 

 

Lulu.com has been infested with Author Solutions

courtesy Wikihow

I was having a good morning until I read this post on Indies Unlimited. Apparently Lulu – the non-Amazon Print On Demand [POD] company – has teamed up with Author Solutions to offer ridiculously expensive ‘packages’ to new authors.

Be warned! This is a barely legal scam that offers the unwary [read new, inexperienced author] help to get published. Those authors who have been burned by Author Solutions in the past never go back. Unfortunately, the flip side of the indie revolution is that there are always more new hopefuls waiting in the wings to get taken to the cleaners.

Do not be fooled by the fact that Author Solutions has now aligned itself with so many legitimate companies – its business practices are still the same. It’s a shonky business with shoddy ‘products’ aimed at those who need the help the most.

I first heard about Author Solutions on LinkedIn. Since then, the company has gone ‘underground’ by hiding under the skirts of well-known companies. It truly is like a cockroach hiding behind the skirting board of your house. Stomp on it every chance you get!

-wipes foam from teeth-

And in other news… my new article is up on Indies Unlimited. In it I ask the question ‘What is a writer?’

That question was inspired by fellow blogger Alex Laybourne. I believe that anyone who invests time and effort into writing a blog is, by definition a writer… because they write. Defining the difference between a writer and an author is a lot more fuzzy.

My modest little article has had some very passionate responses already so please check it out and join the debate!

cheers

Meeks